Beauty in Disguise
by Akrim
Summary: AU - One night, Law finds a hurt woman in his flat. Against better judgment he decides to save her, not realizing she might be the death of him. Rating will go up in future chapters. LawNa


**Disclaimer:** One Piece belongs to great Odachi only! :)

A suuuper thanks so much to Keirra who betaed this! :)

I hope you'll enjoy!

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Prologue

"What happened this time, Nami-ya?" he asked, annoyed.

The orange haired girl chuckled slightly. "My boyfriend happened."

Law sighed resignedly. It's always the same answer every time she showed up his flat. The first time he had found her there he had been surprised to say the least. Who in the world would expect someone to break into their flat and then wait for them to come home and treat their wounds, anyway?

Law did not scare easy but finding a woman he had never seen before in his flat, injured and covered in blood, had made him understandably uneasy. She'd just been sitting there, waiting for him, on the floor in his kitchen.

His first impulse had been to call the police, his second to just let her bleed to death. However, when he saw the slight smile tugging at her lips and the spark in her eyes as she met his gaze completely unafraid, he found himself unwilling to hurt the woman any further. Wordlessly he had gotten his medical bag and treated her wounds.

That had been a month ago. Ever since then she'd come to him when she was hurt and he had patched her up every time.

"Why don't you leave him then?" He asked, nonchalantly.

Nami chuckled again and tried to hold still to let him finish patching her up. "That's why I'm here, doctor-kun. There's no escaping his wrath."

Her stomach has been cut, her face was bruising already. He was happy to see though that she didn't have a bullet lodged somewhere in her body like last time. He had wanted to take her to the hospital but she had refused and threatened to leave and die if he tried to force her. He didn't understand why she was so adamant about not going to the hospital. He was a well respected doctor there; no one would ask any questions because he was able to shut them up before they even opened their stupid mouths.

"How about telling the police?"

He looked at her face then, held her gaze. Her cheek was swollen, the skin around her eye blue. It must be another injury, an older one in the process of healing. Her lips curled up into a small smile.

"I don't think they'd be able to help me."

He didn't understand this woman. He didn't understand her motives. Or maybe she was just plain stupid – but he didn't think that was the case.

"They _have_ to, Nami-ya. That's their job."

He looked at her as if she was stupid not to know that. Nami only chuckled again.

That woman was a real mystery to him but despite that he liked her. She was a beautiful woman, that was plain to see. He could understand why her boyfriend would not want her to leave, but it was no excuse for abusing her like this, regardless of how he treated her. Law had many patients, women mostly, who were in abusive relationships. He knew all the excuses, he knew what the wounds looked like.

Nami's wounds, though, were a bit different. Bullets and deep cuts? That didn't sound like an angry boyfriend, it sounded more like the wounds a criminal might collect. But who was he to make assumptions? He didn't know anything about this woman, she might truly be unlucky enough to have a boyfriend who would shoot and cut her.

After he was finished stitching her up and treating her other wounds, he left the kitchen where she was seated on the table.

"Thanks, doctor-kun", she said happily as she stood up and put her bloodied shirt back on.

Her long beautiful orange hair was in a messy ponytail, her bright brown eyes cast downwards. She wore tight black pants and a bloodied white shirt, which was not really white anymore. It was torn where she had been stabbed, if that was what had happened. She never told him the exact details of her injuries. If her boyfriend was truly this dangerous he felt it would be best if she left him for good.

She was about to leave when he stopped her at the door. Every time right after he finished patching her up she would leave and only return whenever she needed treatment again. But Law wanted to get to know her, and he wanted to get her away from that man if that really was the case. He was a doctor and with that came great responsibility. He just couldn't let her leave and walk straight into this man's brutal arms. But, then again, he did not know her. She was practically a stranger him, a very beautiful one at that. She looked like she needed protection. Protection he could give her. He was a doctor, but he was not a weak man. He could definitely protect a girl from whatever harm might come her way. True, though, he could not protect her from bullets.

"How about you stay here for a while?" He asked with a frown as she moved toward the door, obviously intent on leaving right away as usual. He was honestly afraid that someday she would stop breaking into his flat because she was dead, that her boyfriend had gone too far and she couldn't make it to him in didn't think he would be able to forgive himself if that happened. He had to, at the very least, tell her she was welcome to stay. Truthfully he hated her breaking in but he was always happy to help out people in need. Actually not always, he did love his peace but he was willing to help. He hated people in his flat besides his closest friends and people like that Mugiwara were not really welcome. Nami, however, was a reasonable exception to that. He would rather see her here, breaking into his flat and interrupting his peace, than dead on the street.

She stopped and looked at him with a serious expression on her face. "I don't know if that's such a good idea."

Law shrugged, "well, it's your decision. After all, you sneak into my flat whenever it pleases you. I wonder what kind lock I have to buy to keep you out." Unfortunately, he couldn't just order her to stay here, safe within the shelter of his home.

Nami laughed at that. "Trust me, doctor-kun, no lock could ever keep me out." With those parting words she left.

Law wondered if he would see her again. From what little she told him he figured she must be a kind of a criminal. A cat burglar perhaps, though usually burglars ran away when they were discovered and didn't get such bad wounds. They sure as hell didn't get shot.

When he had examined her, he had found many scars. Some were pretty faded but others seemed fresh. She seemed to get them regularly. If she really had a boyfriend, which he didn't truly believe. who hit her, he must have been doing it for quite some time now. It was more logical that she was a criminal since she didn't want the police involved and was unwilling to go to the hospital.

Law sighed. In the end, it was not his problem, anyway. He had given her the opportunity to stay and she had refused. If she died it was her own damn fault! He should get some sleep as well. Today's shift was real trouble. He'd had two patients who shot each other. Unfortunately one had died in the ambulance and the other in his operatory. He'd tried everything to save the man, but the bullet pretty much destroyed the man's heart and not even Law was able to patch that back up.

The doctor locked the door and sprawled out on his bed. He was tired but sleep eluded him, his mind wandering back to the beautiful woman.

He never found out how she managed to get in. The locks were not broken or even touched, the locksmith had told him that. He lived on eighth floor, so his balcony or windows were not an option, either. Above him were eight more floors and there was no way she could climb them. That left only the door as an option but no matter what lock he put in there, she always somehow got in.

The second time he found her, she had told him her name. Nami. Somehow Law doubted it was her real name, though. He had told her his name, too, although she had already known and yet she always just called him doctor. Beside her name he didn't know anything about her.

Law was not the talkative type but even he had his share of questions for her. She didn't answer most of them of course. In turn he only answered those he thought common knowledge.

To this day, he still could not say why he had not just thrown her out and called the police the first time she had broken in. Perhaps it was the doctor in him not willing to let a patient down when he found one. She'd been covered in blood. The floor had been, as well. It was a thrilling sight for him. Blood had always had that effect on him.

He could admit to himself that it was probably what had stopped him from calling the police.

That and the way she had looked at him, waiting for him to do something when he had entered the flat and found her in there. For a second he had seen uncertainty in her eyes, as if she was anticipating an outburst or him freaking out. It had vanished shortly after and he wondered if it really had been there at all. She had smiled at him warmly. It'd been a sincere smile.

He wondered if she was pain resistant, remembering her composure all those times he treated her. Even with the bullet lodged in her shoulder, she never once twitched. He had no time to numb it because she was allergic to the metal. He had needed to get that bullet out as fast as possible. He briefly wondered if she liked pain. Her smile never faltered and her warm attitude never left her. Maybe that too was why he could not say no to her.

Over the years his life had grown quite dull. Going to work, performing some, admittedly thrilling, surgeries and then back home to start the whole cycle over the next day. He was starting to hate the static constant of his schedule. Even though the surgeries that thrilled him never stopped the repetition was becoming tiresome.

When Nami barged into his life, unexpected and unpredictable, he had started to feel better. His life had gotten an interesting twist that he enjoyed. Of course he had, on occasion, wondered if this new twist might lead to trouble for himself. With a possibly jealous and dangerous boyfriend, or an equally dangerous profession, she might just be the death of him.


End file.
